Discover more than 70
professional tips to make your stories succeed like never beforein this free 14-part Writers' Village mini-course.You will also receive two valuable gifts at once:15 Wily Ways to Write Better Stories plus How to Win Writing Contests for Profit

To join the course without charge and acquire your two free books simply enter your name and email address at right:

Welcome to the home of wicked writing!

You're in good company. Here you'll find articles, tips and blog posts galore on how to succeed as a fiction writer, whether you pen short stories, novellas or - oh, brave person! - novels, in any genre whatsoever.

Please click around my site and enjoy...

Where is the Writers' Village International Short Fiction Award?

We've temporarily suspended the contest. Reason? The contest has run for seven years since 2009 and become one of the world's premier awards for new writers. It has attracted more than 6000 entries in that time, representing some 16 million words, and given away in excess of $20,000 in prize money.

We are deeply grateful for our contestants' support and the joy so many gave us in reading their work. The winners' names and stories will continue to be displayed here to honour their achievement.

However, our core mission has always been to encourage and inspire debut authors and to provide practical coaching in the crafts of fiction writing through our blog and courses. Judging and administering the contest absorbed a vast amount of time, around 1000 hours annually. That time could better be applied to helping writers individually, we decided.

So we are suspending the contest to focus on our well established coaching programs Story PenPal and the Writers' Village Academy.

You are warmly invited to explore Story PenPal, a fun low-cost program that gives you endless feedback on your stories.

Will the Writers' Village award return one day? Very possibly. To coin a cliché: watch this space!

Dr John Yeoman,
MA Oxon, MA (Res), MPhil, PhD Creative Writing. John is a university
tutor in creative writing and has been a successful commercial writer
and publisher for 42 years. He established Writers' Village in 2009. He is the author of the acclaimed writing manual, How Did The Author Do That? - a book that shows you how to
write a great novel while you enjoy the novel. His 'Hippo Yeoman'
mysteries have gained more than 100 5-star reviews across five Amazon
sites.

Beverley Jackson. Amsterdam. "I really love your can-do approach, your fierce rejection of snobbishness and acknowledgment that even writers have to make a living. I just self-published my first book, A Month with Starfish, and I don't think I would have done so without the kind and incisive feedback you gave me."

Ken Margolin. Newtonville, USA. "I posted a 3500+ word story at Story PenPal, The Trestle, for your critique. I took your advice, submitted it to a few online journals, and to my happy surprise, it was accepted by Short Fiction Breaks. Thank you for your writing wisdom!"

Barbara Hudson. Bath, England. "I’m happy to tell you that my novel Timed Out ... will be published in April by Driven Press. I am sure that [your feedback] helped it on its way. So thank you."

Maaja Wentz. Ontario. "I think you're one of the cleverest writing instructors on the Internet!"

Neva Brown. UK. "You gave me some VERY good writing advice. I thought you might enjoy seeing my third book at the top of the Soul Mate Publishing newsletter."

Anthea Jones. Deagon, Australia. "I've just started editing my novel now. Amazing the difference between the quality of what I wrote at the start and the end! The change is mainly due to your Academy modules."

Michelle Coote. Queensland, Australia."Your feedback is very helpful and gives clear guidance on the areas I can focus on for improvement. Everything you offer - your website (and blog), writing tuition and the competition - has been of great benefit to me."

Jenny Heap. Warwickshire, England.
"I was most impressed that you were able to give such genuinely
considered, insightful and helpful feedback – a definite bargain!"

Gun Caundle. Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. "[Following
your feedback], I won the Takahe Cultural Studies competition for my
story Ross. I also put this down to your lessons. They have raised the
quality of my writing."

Lorna Lennon. County Wicklow, Ireland. [Shortlisted winner 2013] "While I was delighted at winning the prize, the icing on the cake really was the prompt communication and advice, speedy set-up on the site and quick payment. All in all, a very positive experience and you should be congratulated on your professionalism."

Carrie Mumford. Alberta, Canada. "I can't thank you enough for your helpful feedback. You run a wonderful contest and website. Thank you for offering this to aspiring authors! I'll be sure to share news of your contest and website with my writing group."

Carolyn McKenzie. Auckland, New Zealand."Thank
you very much for your feedback on my story. I
particularly like your marking system and suggestions. I consider my entry fee very
well spent indeed."

David Hill. Eastbourne, England."Your advice on short story competitions is excellent. I have followed it and won
one competition and been shortlisted in two others so far."

Nancy Pawelek. Ottawa, Ontario.
"Getting your [feedback] WAS worth the entry fee. I appreciated the
conciseness of your advice and your encouragement. Seeing the points for
each element now helps me focus in my re-writes."

Keith Smith. St Etienne sur Usson, France."Your
comments have given me much food for thought and I greatly appreciate
your encouragement and integrity. I thank you for what is, to me, the
best writing site on the net."

Patsy Miranda. London."This
is the best website I have found so far especially if you are an
aspiring writer. The free writing tips are invaluable, the critiques are
extremely helpful and certainly more than their money's worth, and free
access to the winning stories is a bonus. Absolutely well worth a
visit, or two or more!"

Warren Glover. Woollahra, Australia.
"I've both placed and been unsuccessful in Writers' Village contests
and each time I've found the feedback fair, justified and extremely
useful. I'd recommend Writers' Village as both a motivational
and learning tool."

Patricia Smith. Johannesburg, South Africa. "Your feedback highlighted the weaknesses of my piece with great accuracy and offered solutions to explore. Much appreciated!"

James Ward. East Sussex.
"Out of the 66 writing competitions I've entered to date, yours is far
and away the best organized, most competitor-friendly, and easily the best value for money."

Angela Johnson. Barcelona, Spain. "I treasure your valuable feedback and I'm glowing from some of the [grades you gave me]. I am sure I will enter a story again!"

Madeline Parsons. Southend-on-Sea, England.
"I very much liked your marking system. It made me feel confident that
the story had been judged against a set of criteria which had been
applied to all the entries, and thus the competition was less
subjective. I found your feedback to be just and insightful."

Laura Lindsay. Freeport, USA. "You cannot imagine how excited I was to receive good useful feedback from someone who knows the field. It was a gift, indeed."

Barbara Leahy. Cork, Ireland.
"Competitions can be like black holes swallowing up stories so it is
great to get feedback from someone who actually read and thought about
my entries."

Joan Sonnenburg. Ontario, Canada. "Many thanks for your comments. These are more helpful than any cash award."

David Roberts. Westerham, England. "Your feedback was much appreciated and indeed well worth the entry
fee. It's always good to know where exactly you fail in a competition
otherwise it is almost impossible to improve oneself."

Charles Clennell. Gilberton, Australia.
"Thank you for your very constructive feedback to my two stories.
Failing to gain a prize was less important to me than receiving useful
feedback to help improve my writing skills."

Susan Hartnell-Beavis. Yeovil, England.
"[I'd like to record] my thanks for the tremendous value your critiques
have for me. Not only does it help us improve as writers, but it is
also obvious, from the winners that you choose, that your standards are
very high. That is why we can trust what you say."

Ken McBeath. Ontario, Canada. "A critique such as yours is worth as much as a prize or more - and very
few competitions offer feedback without a hefty extra payment."

Maureen Gallagher. Galway, Ireland."Yours is the most exciting competition I've entered. A real thrill to get your insightful comments!"

Helene Dolder. Newcastle upon Tyne, England."It wasn't the taking part, it was the taking apart that most encouraged me! Your time to read, digest, regurgitate and comment was tremendous value for the entry fee."

Sharon Birch. Aberfeldy, Perthshire. "Feedback
such as this is invaluable to me as a writer and very helpful when I
come to edit and put them right. I shall enter your future competitions
and spread the word amongst fellow writers. Your helpful tips emails are
extremely informative and a welcome insight."

Joyce Mackenzie. Dundee, Scotland.
"I am delighted at the [feedback you gave me]. Its just as good as a
win for me. Your marking system is extremely good. It lets the writer
know where they have succeeded and where they have failed."

Hazel Martell. Keighley, West Yorkshire, England.
"Thanks again for the kind comments - they really were appreciated! I'm
also passing information about your competitions to various writing
friends and hope they will also be encouraged to enter."

Alan Coley. Thames Ditton, England.
"It was very good to receive your comments. It's so refreshing to
receive constructive criticism rather than being left to stare at the
short list and not be able to work out why my name wasn't on it. Many
thanks."

Kim Kremer. Penrith, Cumbria.
"Thanks for the feedback I received on my two stories. It was
encouraging and helpful, and I'd definitely enter the competition
again."

Peter McGinniss. South Lanarkshire, England."I
found your comments to be very helpful, and illuminating in terms of
what is being looked for in a short-story writing competition. I shall
take the advice on board."

Nicola Young. Sevenoaks, Kent.
"Thank you for your feedback. It was a great to help to me. It's just
encouraging to know you're going in the right direction, especially as
I'm new to this."

Lande Abudu. Eastcote, Middlesex.
"I really needed to hear an independent view of ways to improve my
writing. It was helpful to get feedback as I am only just venturing into
the world of writing competitions; I'll keep at it and hope to be a
winner some day soon."

Valerie Bowes.Surrey, England.
"Thank you very much for your comments, which I did indeed find
helpful. Of particular use is knowing how I scored on the points system
which you use to make your judgements. And the writing tips are very
good, as well!"

Gail Richards. London.
"John treated my stories with respect from start to finish, understood
the theme and the characters and made some incisive and pertinent
suggestions for improvement. If this is terse feedback I'd love to
see a full critique!"

Paul Barron. Co Wexford, Ireland.
"I found John's feedback exceptionally good.The breakdown and marks
system is
particularly good in focusing attention on parts that are not working.
Most competitions offer no feedback or charge a fee. For my part I can't
see how
you can improve unless you know where you went wrong. Thanks again,
John, for the feedback."

Jason Heaver. Streatham, London. "Yours is the only competition I've found that gives any kind of feedback as part of the entry fee, rather than for an additional price, and it's greatly valued."

Doreen Stoneham. Oxford, England."Your
comments have helped me to identify points which appeared clear to me
but not to the reader. I shall certainly be entering again. I have been
recommending your site to my writing group. It’s the best I have found."

Evelyn Evans. Buckingham.
"Your comments are really helpful and I will certainly act on your
advice. This is the first time I have had the courage to share any of my
work and I feel enormously encouraged (if not amazed!) by your
response. Thank you for taking the time and trouble to read it so
closely."

Amy. High Wycombe, England.
"Your comments brought clarity to my doubts and renewed my interest in
those two stories, which is fantastic. I really feel it is possible to
make both those stories work now, whereas before I was unhelpfully
despondent/irritated with the outcome."

Winner winter 2015

Eva Mariscant

2nd place

Justine Avery

3rd place

Jason Colpitts

Winner summer 2015

Susan Dillon

2nd place

Christine Griffin

3rd place

Alison Rome

Winner winter 2014

Meera Kothandaramaraju

2nd place

Tristam Greensmith

3rd place

DavidJoy

Winner summer 2014

Stephanie Scott

Winner 2013

Gayle Beveridge

Winner winter 2012

Ellie Stewart

Winner autumn 2012

Claire Thomson

Winner summer 2012

Fleur Smithwick

Winner spring 2012

Alice Dryden

Winner winter 2011

Moya Green

Winner autumn 2011

Michael Simon

Winner summer 2011

Leo Madigan

Winner summer 2010

Claire Girvan

Winner spring 2010

Karen Wolfe

Winner summer 2009

Shuna Meade

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